Royal rumblings

EL SEGUNDO Albert Pujols doesn't like his billboards, and Kings fans are upset about theirs.

But read them closely: Pride, Passion And Power.

They don't say a thing about “goals.”

The Kings have scored 129 times in 61 games, 11 fewer than anyone else in the NHL. They have scored 18 times in February. Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay has scored 10 times in February himself.

The club that was supposed to be proud, passionate, powerful and even productive enough to make a Stanley Cup run is 10th in the Western Conference, although only two points behind eighth-place Dallas.

So General Manager Dean Lombardi made a trade Thursday and is presumably working on others before Monday's deal deadline.

That means that Kings fans don't have to use paint to turn purple.

A year ago, Lombardi dealt defenseman Colten Teubert to Edmonton and a No. 1 pick for the privilege of being disenchanted by Dustin Penner.

The ex-Duck has averaged one goal every nine games since, although that figure has been distorted by Coach Darryl Sutter's refusal to play him.

In June, Lombardi sent Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn to Philadelphia and got Michael Richards, Olympian and renowned two-way center.

Richards indeed played patriotic hockey when the season began but then suffered a concussion. He has 31 points in 53 games.

Simmonds, playing in a more open system, has 22 goals and 60 points. Schenn, formerly the next offensive star for the Kings, has eight goals in 32 games.

So Lombardi hit the “submit” button again and got Jeff Carter from Columbus.

The price was defenseman Jack Johnson, a former No. 3 pick in the draft, and yet another first-round pick.

Carter, at 6-foot-4 and 27 years of age, piled up 115 goals in Philadelphia in the three seasons before this one. But he had just 12 goals before his hat trick against San Jose on Tuesday.

He played with Richards in Philadelphia last season and was crestfallen when he was sent to the banks of the Olentangy, where hockey players are not asked to dot the “I.”

Barring another deal, the theory is that the return of Simon Gagne, coupled with Carter, will finally give the Kings two dangerous lines, and that Slava Voynov has matured to the point that the Kings could afford to lose Johnson.

But no other theory had worked, and the crowd will be suspicious until Carter, wearing No. 77, scores against Chicago, at Staples Center today. Six of the Kings' next eight, after this, are on the road.

Sutter has said the premise was unrealistic. “It's a totally different group, lots of new forwards,” he said, before the Carter trade. “You're not trying to reinvent the wheel, or change round into square. Gagne, Scott Parse … those have been pretty big holes, to be honest.”

Sutter was another button Lombardi pushed. Terry Murray was fired when the Kings were 13-12-4. Five games later, Sutter took over. They are 12-8-8 since.

So if Lombardi had done nothing and allowed last year's Kings to run their course …

Well, the media would have passed out from hypertension. The fans would have turned their message boards into flaming arrows.

And the Kings would be scoring no fewer goals, would still have their first-round picks, and would have a functioning player in Penner's spot, instead of a lump. Who knows?

Anyway, the Kings are 3-4-1 in February when they allow two or fewer goals. And, according to Columbus, one of those games was won at 20:01 of the third period.

So Carter will not wonder why he is here.

“He skates well for a big man and he's good at finding the soft spot of the offensive zone,” Mitchell said. “But we can't expect one man to be the answer.”

Assistant coach John Stevens was the head man in Philly when Richards and Carter were there.

“I had this sense they'd always be together,” he said. “They were in the World Juniors together, played on a championship bantam team, they're almost like the Sedin twins in the way they know each other.

“Jeff's just a big guy who skates like a gazelle, skates away from trouble and can score from distance. Mike's a guy who gets in the trenches and makes those support plays.”

But players change.

Justin Williams has had two 30-goal seasons. He has 12 goals now.

Anze Kopitar had 34 two years ago and has 17.

Dustin Brown had 28 last year, now has 15.

Twenty-one games remain for the Kings to turn Pride, Passion and Power into something besides Pause, Penner and Please.

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